New House Woes

Since purchasing our home a few months ago, all I've managed to do is paint our bedroom and begin choosing paint colors for other rooms. Building other people's homes took precedence over personalizing my new house. I'm also in the middle of refinishing a desk for my office. The thing that I don't want to be bothered with but have no choice right now is our plumbing. This weekend the temperature in Hickville (a.k.a. Heber) fell to -14 overnight. You read that right. -14! A few of our lines froze as a result and we've  been trying to unthaw them ever since. So far Jason's shower and the washer are better, but the potty in my bathroom still doesn't work. Even worse than the frozen pipes is the clog in our main line. I'll save you the details, but there is a lot of junk pouring UP through the drain in our utility room. A drain is supposed to suck down, not push shit up. We rented a snake and went to town, but it's not budging. The professionals will be here in the morning. I'm hoping that by the end of tomorrow I can 1. Use my toilet and 2. Go back to dreaming about paint colors rather than sewer lines.

Pictures to follow! (Don't worry. I won't post pictures of the junk - just the beautiful color of our room!)

Our "Almost" House

Jason and I have decided to make a bold, grown up move... literally. We decided to buy a house rather than continue renting. It was a pretty easy decision: we're both settled in good jobs and sick of paying so much money toward someone else's mortgage. 


Since our lease ended on September 30th, Jason and I accepted my grandpa's generous offer to live with him (rent free!) until we could find and close on a house. The downside was that our beloved pups have to live with my parents until we can move into a new place. But we're lucky that my parents are willing to take care of them during this transition. So we packed all the belongings we don't require on a daily or weekly basis into a POD and moved in with my grandpa. I've traded the luxury of walking to/from work for the luxury of sharing coffee and the newspaper with my grandpa over breakfast. He's quite a guy. 


Finding a home that was affordable, in decent condition, and well-located was not so easy. We've been looking for a solid 3 months and after four (yes, four!) rejected or outbid offers, we finally found and secured the perfect home for us. We call it our almost house, because it's almost ours. If all goes well, we'll close on the 26th. Here's a teaser picture...

Great curb appeal? Check!

Two-car garage? Check! 

Fully fenced yard? Check! 

And that's just the outside. 

I began daydreaming and making plans for the interior before the ink was dry on our accepted counteroffer. Today, I found this bowl and plate at Anthropologie (love the store. just can't bring myself to shell out that much money for anything in it) and am using it as inspiration for my "reading room." Yes, this house is large enough for Jason and I to each get rooms of our own to do whatever we like with. 

    

I'm thinking high gloss black walls above the existing white beadboard and bright floral print art on the walls. Love it! 

Tomorrow I'm dragging Jason to Home Depot to think through paint colors for our bedroom. I have waited 4 long years to paint walls and change door hardware. 

Send us happy thoughts and good energy that all goes well and we close on our "almost" home! 

Pupper Tuck

Tucker
1995-2010

Today, we said goodbye to our four-legged family member, the patriarch of the furry brood. We rescued Tucker from some bully dogs at a kennel when he was just a puppy. I remember looking out the window as my mom opened the car door and this little black and brown bundle of energy flopped out. I thought, "Oh god, what has that woman done now?" But of course I was excited to have a puppy. He was the best puppy. The best dog. My best friend. Tucker always listened. He never passed judgment. I could always count on him.

My siblings never knew a life without Tucker and my heart breaks for them as they endure this hard life lesson.

Tucker was my mom's shadow. He never left her side. And in the end, she was by his as he took his last breath and left us for the first and only time.

Goodbye, Pupper Tuck. I will miss you forever and love you always.

It's Getting Wild

The list of things I'm getting used to since moving to Park City has just been expanded to include the abundance and proximity of wildlife to where we live.

"Bigoo"

I have the good fortune of living walking distance (I'm talking a 1 1/2 minute walk) from where I work. I also have the good fortune of bringing Bigoo (Big+Goo= Bigoo, a.k.a. Lucy) to work with me.

On our way to work Friday, we came out onto the sidewalk to find a 2.5 foot long snake just chillin'. It was just laying there minding its own business.

I made a quick assessment:

No rattle. Check!

Not a black mamba. Check!

Round pupils. Check!

(Tangent: Round pupils indicate that a snake is not venomous. Whereas, elliptical pupils indicate that they are. Good information, but let's hope you never get close enough to a snake for this information to be useful.)

Now I'm not afraid of snakes, or many reptile species for that matter, but I was afraid of the possible altercation between my hyper-curious labrador and this wild creature. But this was not the snake's first rodeo. It didn't move an inch and Bigoo stepped right over it (literally) without a hint of interest or recognition that it was even there. I, on the other hand, respected its "personal space bubble" and walked 3-feet around it.

Great, now I have snake encounters on my way to work. But that doesn't compare to the phone call I got from Jason a couple hours later.

Our condo backs up to a wooded hill-y area that is undeveloped for many many acres. Every now and then, people take their own noise makers for walks around the back of our house so it's not uncommon for our puppers to go ape shit at the back door. Our other little noise maker, Inga, was doing just that at the screen door.

Ferocious guard dog

As Jason attempted to quiet our 20lb guard dog, he saw movement out of the corner of his eye and turned to see a full-grown giant MOOSE (antlers and all) standing 30-feet outside our back door. Talk about an adrenaline rush.

He managed to snap off a photo before it meandered away. The photo mildly resembles those taken of Big Foot, but I swear that if you look close enough, you can see the outline of the moose in the background.

Forget the snake. I can handle a little garter snake. But a possible moose encounter is another story.

I'm not your sweetheart

I want to be taken seriously at work. Who doesn't? And when you're a woman working in a male-dominated industry, it's even more important to be respected.

Most of the women that work in construction are in support positions. They enter and pay bills, schedule employees for jobs, file, open the mail, etc. Many of them are also married to the owner of the company.

Now since I work for a pretty small outfit, I do complete all of these tasks (although I'm clearly not married to the owner of the company) but I do so much more than this. My title is operations manager (or COO, depending on the day) and my responsibilities extend beyond menial office tasks.

Which is why I was so insulted yesterday when a potential client called me a "sweetheart" after I was able to get something he needed. As in, "Thank you. You're such a sweetheart." Sweetheart? Sweetheart? If I were a man, would he have called me sweetheart? No. He would have said, "Thanks, man, you're awesome." Or "Thank you, sir. I appreciate it." It was a subconscious (I hope) way of him putting me in my place and it felt really demeaning. He may as well have just called me a little lady.

Did I say anything? No, of course not. For one, it happened so fast and then we hung up so I didn't really have a chance. And for two, I don't want to make a big deal out of something that he probably meant harmlessly. But maybe I'm just conditioned to resist causing contention and sticking up for myself. Maybe that's the "little lady" in me.

Has anyone ever said something demeaning to you at work? How did you respond/handle it?

Check, check, and check!

I just love productive Sundays. Don't you? Let's recap this wonderful day. (I know most of you are sensing a hint of sarcasm, but I'm being sincere. No, seriously.)

1. Slept in till 10:00 am.

2. Ate an incredible breakfast prepared by my incredible husband

3. Went skiing for several hours.

4. Took a 30 minute power nap while Jason caught up on the Masters. I am convinced that a golf tournament on in the background is the fastest way to fall asleep and provides the most sound slumber. Must be the inside voices used by the commentators.

5. Did our taxes. Pretty stoked about this. Thank you, Turbo Tax!

6. Made a tasty (technically vegan) dinner

7. Cleaned the house- including both bathrooms and some dusting action

8. Met some friends visiting from out-of-town for dessert

It has been a great day. Let's hope this week follows suit.

Mama needs a new bag of... cereal?

One of my favorite foodie/fitness/healthy lifestyle bloggers, Teri, is having a giveaway that I really want to win. So I am shamelessly using this post to earn two more entries into the contest. The prize you ask worthy of such valuable space? Why, Bob's Red Mill cereal products, of course!

I care about this product giveaway for a number of reasons. Let me list them (in no particular order):

1. I bake with Bob's Red Mill Flaxseed (my whole wheat flaxseed baked bread is the stuff of dreams)

2. They make wholesome, (moderately priced) natural food

3. I like to win stuff

You should enter, too. I'm not easily intimidated so bring on the competition!